Image Description (Alt text): A panoramic view, taken from the bastion, overlooking the outer bailey, Corfe Castle village and Corfe Common.
Audio track transcript:
"Look out to Corfe Common. Towards Iron Age fields and Bronze Age barrows, maybe 4000 years old. 18th century smugglers snuck through here – horses hooves covered to muffle the sound – bringing contraband from the coast to London.
You see the village? It grew up with the castle. For a time, it was the centre of the Purbeck marble trade. In the 1660s, the Bankes family went there looking for materials that had been plundered during the war. And then, after the first passenger train arrived here in 1885, the Bankes estate began to get into the tourist trade.
That’s where I come in. I wrote one of the first guidebooks – you can see it on your screen. It cost 9d, and sold like hot cakes! This place was especially popular on Sundays, and we soon had security fencing, signage, and a ladies’ lavatory in the ditch under the bridge! Local businesses started selling pins and winkle shells!
Just before my time, William Bankes even thought about rebuilding Corfe. Another William, Turner, painted watercolours showing these ruins in a golden haze. Oh yes, the romance of this castle has been celebrated for many a year.
In 1866, Thomas Bond called it one of the “most magnificent and interesting ruins in the kingdom”. Well… who am I to disagree… Pray, do not go without telling us your own story. Leave your feedback – by quill or electronic means – let us know how you enjoyed the tour. Safe travels, my friend."